Why Your Marketing Sucks | The Honest Version

This isn't a new take, spin, or a re-packaging of Mark Stevens aptly titled book. Apparently, it's a common phrase, so I explored with honest curiosity and was surprised by some nonsense.

To get an idea where I'm going with this, skim Google's endless stream of conflicting ideas that relabel, redefine, dance around "marketing" or simply just say "you're doing it wrong" -> Google Search | Why Your Marketing Sucks

"It's an enigma" "a dirty word" "redefine it" "it's not about [marketing]!" "it's about [NOT marketing]!" "you're not [NOT marketing]"

The most common thread there is no one seems to agree on what the concept of marketing is... never mind agreeing on why yours sucks.

Feeling outnumbered, I checked the definition:

mar·ket·ing /ˈmärkədiNG/ noun

the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

Did you catch that? (Sigh, this article just got longer). "Marketing" the noun, is defined "activity".

Verbs are activities, right?

I thought "okay, all verbs are nouns in that respect" but it seems no, no they are not. The same online community that doesn't agree on why your marketing sucks or what marketing is or what it means, widely agrees there's only 472 English words considered to be both nouns and verbs.

Marketing? not on the list.

Turns out it's derived from the Latin NOUN mercatus "marketplace" in Ancient Rome.

So now, commercial communicators digitally walk around calling a verb a noun, because it meant something else in a dead language in a society that doesn't exist, while telling you to redefine it and you're doing "it"? (increasingly foggy) wrong.

Normally, definitional observations are unproductive but this exception continues the theme:

Human communication & understanding starts in chaos.

Good to exceptional communication and understanding (if any) may begin to untangle it from there... so far? not looking good:

1. Chaos -> Google Search | Why Your Marketing Sucks
2. Chaos -> Basic word concepts defined by experts - what is a noun?

3. Increasing Chaos

In the 1970s humans were exposed to 500 ads per day. In 2017 Forbes Article | Finding Brand Success In The Digital World raised that number to as high as 10,000.

T E N T H O U S A N D ads aimed at the average human, every day.

Thank heavens we're only awake 3/4 of the day or it would be much higher. Probably already is.

Now over 550 ads per hour for a 70s level ad exposure EIGHTEEN times per day.

But the ads aren't spread across the entire day are they? We average only 18hrs awake.

Ok, so now 10,000 ads offered in your daily 64,800 waking seconds gives the ad 6.48 seconds to influence your decision making. No calculator needed, right?

Well no, not really.

Because according to Insider Intelligence | eMarketer total average media exposure is (only?!) around 13 hours per day giving the ad <5 seconds.

<5 seconds then? No, we're still not being honest yet.

Inside Intelligence | eMarketer also points out humans are narrowing toward a 1.3s decision window when it comes to offering up more of our attention.

Okay 1.3 seconds is it?

Nope, not quite.

Human Benchmark points out we need to shave a little off for human reaction time which gives the ad about ONE second to support a 352 billion dollar US ad industry.

A second.

A second where no one, especially the experts, agree on what's actually happening and the dictionary makes it look like an oxymoron anyway.

Just remember, you're doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong!

To be fair, the consultants, coaches, gurus, courses, agencies are in a tough spot. There's a limited list of variables to turn 1 second into money. You'll see folks hover generally around these areas. One of them is honest but not necessarily sold that way (remember they only have a second to lure you in) You should have already spotted it:

• Get a better client
• Get better content, messaging, branding, etc.
• Give away & pray
• Get a better strategy

This list is similar to the google search above in that it mostly dances around distracting from the topic: "your marketing sucks".

Only one of them directly relates to "improve how you go to market"

Get a better client... to improve marketing?

"How do you improve going to market? On my client's back!"

A self-solving client with built-in demand isn't a marketing agency "getting it right". Tesla has no marketing department last I checked. Wouldn't you enjoy a paycheck for marketing that brand? Of course you would and it might fix you... but it certainly doesn't improve marketing.

Are they hiring?

Get better content, messaging, branding, etc.

That's a-lot of dancing.

Get those roofers on TikTok, we have shingles to sell, and for crying out loud spice up that logo and make the phones ring!

Maybe, but it doesn't feel honest.

It's very unlikely EVERYTHING is dialed in for success and only the message was off. If it's COSTING sales, there are bigger problems. If you're selling or buying branding improvements - great, it's likely needed and will be beneficial.

Everyone should to be on page, it's often an indirect solution for what most clients would prefer to solve more directly:

If a client asks for marketing help, they want growth.

Things like polishing up the old logo and cool videos have immense value but in this context, it's low hanging fruit and as productive.

Give away & pray

This is a side effect of a level playing field. Many marketers have access to the same tools and everyone is faced with the 1 second challenge.

Give away and pray relies on relationship building and reciprocity. Very important and necessary things.

BUT

If we're being honest, improved marketing is filed under the "pray" part.

"I will fix your google profile for free or cheap and if your rankings improve, I get your SEO or whatever else I do."

This common scenario pushes the decision over to something indirect like organic ranking and then maybe... hopefully leads to what the client really wants.

The niche is the variable to success - not really the service.

Does the client know this? Hopefully.

If no one really searches for your stuff, ranking doesn't help. This is real for a-lot of companies that still buy these services.

They need a different strategy because they have a different market.

Improve Your Marketing With A Better Strategy

Not so easy to dance your way out of this conversation is it?

Sure you don't want that updated logo package? I have a hot deal on first month SEO, any takers?

Okay here it is:

The reason your marketing sucks is because you don't get these 5 things right:

1. An honest marketing strategy proposes to directly connect a client with their market of buyers in the face of the 1 second challenge and is cost rewarding. <-So many do not do this.
2. Discovery/research happens before customized strategies.
3. Discovery/research happens before off the shelf strategies.
4. Maybe the client has already developed the best strategy for their business.
5. Marketing is a verb. Seriously, someone tell Oxford Language et al to fix that.

If you read this far, your family misses you. Shut it down.

Your Marketing Sucks | Mark Stevens